Thursday, January 28, 2010

LAPD Finds Pot Shop Owner Making Huge Profits

Who says you can't make a profit selling medical marijuana?

Despite the protestations of numerous medical weed store owners, whoregularly gripe that they're just making ends meet, Los Angeles PoliceDepartment found a detailed list of the hefty profits made on differentmarijuana strains sold at three pot shops owned by the same man, RichardKhoury.â€‹Over 50 Los Angeles Police Department narcotics detectives and officersserved search warrants today on Alternative Care Collective, 420Discount Collective and Encino Discount Collective in the San FernandoValley after neighbors complained about people selling pot to teenagersoutside the locations.

During the January 27 afternoon search, officers found and confiscated50 pounds of marijuana, hashish, edible and drinkable marijuanaproducts, and $3,000 in cash. Khoury was arrested for possession forsale and cultivation - cops found 68 plants at his Granada Hills home inthe Valley.

One of the most eye-opening things they found was a list of how Khourymarked up the prices of his medical pot. Here are just a few examples:

Khoury, a 30-year-old former construction worker, bought a gram of ObamaKush for $10.71 from a pot vendor, then sold it to his patients for$37.50. That's a whopping profit of $26.79!

Another strain, OG Skywalker, cost Khoury $10.49, and he sold it for$37.77 - a more than respectable return of $27.28.

Train Wreck, a cheaper brand, costs $5.50, with the owner peddling itfor $20.09 and making another nice gain of $14.59.

LAPD Devonshire Division Narcotics Detective Robert Holcomb told the LAWeekly that Khoury made approximately $4,000 to $6,000 a day at each ofhis three locations.